The snow is mostly gone, here on the prairies, but it will be some weeks before we see greenery and flowers blooming. I can’t wait! It has been a long winter and I sure could use a bit of color. Late spring or early summer images are great for it because all is fresh and green is bright and not dimmed by dust of late summer days.
We are lucky here in Alberta, because some nights are full of light show. We had a couple of gorgeous Aurora showing last fall and I have managed to capture some shots without leaving the city.
I know, I know it is winter and everybody posts winter photography, but I am not ready for it yet. I see it outside my window every day, so I want to see something warm, colorful and pretty. Hope you are in need of this as well.
It has been a while since I’ve posted anything about Elk Island National Park. So, I think, it is time for some lovely sunset from the beginning of summer, when all was green, flowers were blooming and days were warm and long.
I had a wonderful experience of photographing one of the most interesting models I've ever worked with. I don't know if being Russian has anything to do with it, but the flare and energy during the shoot was quite amazing. I ended up with a lot of good shots, and picking the best to show off on the blog was not easy. So sit back, and enjoy!
So just in time for new year resolutions, that no one ever keeps, I decided to go back in time. A long way back in time. I'm talking about 15 years at least. This is how long I had this Russian relic, this wonder of Russian technology and optics, this marvel of weight and noise. I'm talking about the Kiev 60.
I have received this camera as a gift, and to my shame never really used it. At that time I was using a normal 35mm Minolta SLR, and found I had little use for the big Kiev. It's completely manual. It has a TTL light meter, but I can't find replacement batteries for it, so right now it's just a view finder. It is horribly heavy, at least twice as heavy as my Canon 5D. The shutter makes this horrific, yet strangely satisfying "clunk", that would wake the dead. It has a 80mm f2.8 lens on it, and other little bits and pieces that came with it in a box.
It's been sitting on a shelf, sad and neglected. So I gave it a bit of cleaning, hunted down some film for it, and actually shot a few frames with it already. So one might say that the first pictures of the new year were done on an old Russian tank. I do realize that coming from an instant gratification of digital camera, waiting for the film to be developed will be a form of masochism, but I think I can handle it for a few rolls of film I bought. I just have to remember to write notes while taking pictures (exposure, shutter, aperture etc.).... what did I get myself into???
Finally Sebastian got his wish, and was able to put his costume to good use. It was fairly warm night for trick or treating, and both kids were very excited. This year though, I decided not to take my camera with me, just dress up and enjoy the time with the kids. It was fun. A lot of fun. Both of them were practically running from house to house, I hard a time keeping up at times as my gas mask was fogging up. Yep, I picked a perfect costume for this year. A few years ago, a very good friend of mine ordered a Russian military HAZMAT suit for himself. I did not ask why, (he said something about scaring his neighbours). It came in handy. Every comment I received from adults on the streets was about H1N1, and the other kids were really scared. After about 40 min of walking (running), my kids had their bags full of loot, and decided to go home. It really was a great time.... Here are some shots of me in my HAZMAT suit....
I had this Russian theme going around my head for a while now. I couldn't realize it, because of the missing props. By complete chance I happened on a great internet store called Soviet Power. This gem of a site has any thing one ever wanted from the by gone era of old Soviet Union.I asked Miss C. if she would like to do some shots, and she agreed. It was fun as always. Miss C. is a great person to work with. We managed to kick into a bit of a different theme during the shoot, but that will be the topic of the next post. So for now enjoy these.
